Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-05
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. 1887.
The Northern BoomIet.


the northern section of the State.
Stockton has not got into the whirl as
yet, but nearly every town Of note in
that section is making an effort to ap-
pear in the rising tide. Taking dis
passionate view of the entire move
m ent, we are compelled to look upon
it as a forced excitement. There can
be no genuine boom without certain
conditions behind it, and these condi-
lions have not yet materialized at any
of the points named. The sales are
all speculative, and confined, with
very few exceptions, to people who
are settled residents of the State.
New capital and new people
have not put in an appearance
so far, and without these the excite
ment is calculated to work injury in
stead of benefit. It is d mere trans
fer of lots and lands from one citizen
to another. 1t lacks the element of
progress, starts out on false basis,
and unless buyers from abroad enter
the field, the last purchasers will be left
in the lurch. A number OF San Fran
cisco capitalists have. been slightly
stricken with the craze, but they have
entered the arena with their wonted
caution. They have principally oper-
ated in ranches and large tracts in
Santa Clara county. They have
in very few cases made purchases
outright, but have mainly bought on
margin. They have taken contracts
for deeds to be delivered at a specified
time, and paid small percentage
down. That is gamble. In other
words. they bet the percentage put up
on an increased value of the property
in a given time. Ii it does not go up
they lose their bet, and the property
remains with the owner if it does go
mp they win. No Improvements fol-
low deals of this character. They are
mere speculations made on the
strength of an expected rush of buyers
from the East. At Oakland the boom
is operating the same as milking
of the stock market by the mining
manipulators. Tracts are cut up into
lots; the small savings of the working
classes are attracted to them, and
prices are thus rushed up. At Sacra-
,nento they are doing better. Large
tracts are being cut up into forty-acre
farms, and the men directing the
movement are preparing to make these
subdivisions attractive to settlers by
placing them in condition that the
purchasers can at once proceed to make
a living out of their investments. But
to our mind the whole boom is forced
and premature. 1t will be hurtful,
because if intending settlers should go
to that part of the State next fall and
winter, the speculative craze will have
sent prices up SO high that the new
conner will be deferred from buying.
Values in this section were raised by
the Fasteners themselves. Prices
went up as the new population came |
IN and settled. They shared in the
advance and helped to make it. In
Northern California, however, we see
an entirely different method in opera
tion. The home people boom the mar
ket before the new people-the real |
source of a legitimate rise in Values
u appear on the field We doubt |
whether this will work well. |
Indeed, we believe it will operate dis
astrously. There is no reason why
land or town lot values should ad-
vance so or 100 per cent. in any of the
counties or cities named in the last
thirty days. There are no more people
in them now than there was month
ago. Nor is there any advent Of cap
itai from abroad to stimulate specula-
tion. 1t has merely been local
swapping of property accompanied by
n marking-up process. a large influx
of population might result in per-
m anent benefit to those places if
prices had been kept as they were a
month ago. Now the high figures,
raised on false basis, will only serve
to drive many Fasteners away, who
otherwise would have become per-
manent settlers.
In 1884 the Prohibition party polled